Considered by many as one of the greatest cult movies of all
time, GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE finally arrives in a Wide Screen anamorphic
edition from a 35mm High-Definition transfer. Starring B-movie icon William
Smith (Maniac Cop,
Red Dawn), this film shocked audiences 40 years ago when the
young mother of a vampire baby began nursing it with her own blood! Grim and
grisly, it quickly became a cult favorite through frequent midnight movie
showings and television airings. Also starring Michael Pataki, Lyn Peters, and
Diane Holden.

***

This dark, violent British production stars Michael Pataki as a
brutish vampire apparently lacking in Dracula's powers of seduction, since he
finds it necessary to brutally rape a young woman (Kitty Vallacher) in order to
sire a child. The product of this unholy mating is a half-human, half-vampire
baby boy, bottle-fed on the blood of his now-insane mother (a truly sickening
sight) until her eventual death from anemia. Later as a young man, the son
(William Smith) is able to spend short periods in daylight, and his bloodlust is
considerably lesser than that of his father. Tormented nevertheless by his evil
condition, he curses his bloodline and defies his vampire heritage, tracking his
father down to the university where he teaches occult sciences. Aside from
Pataki's coarse but imposing performance, this low-budget film is a fairly
routine genre entry, but the climactic, bloody duel between father and son
vampires is quite gripping.

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The
Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio

English (Dolby Digital 2.0)

Subtitles

None

Features

Release Information:Studio: Bayview

Aspect Ratio:Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1

Edition Details:

• Restoration
Demonstration
• Trailer
• Bayview 'Coming Attractions'

DVD Release Date: March 19th, 2013Keep Case
Chapters: 12

Comments:

Grave of the Vampire
is passive Grindhouse fodder. It has the wonderful 'Our Feature
Presentation' quirky animated title card before the film, a William
Castle-style 'Warning' and all the telltale vertical scratches that
identify its genre-specific charisma of low-budget flaws (made for 50K).
The single-layered Bayview transfer has edge-enhancement (see example
below) and inconsistencies in the visual presentation with plenty of
extensive vertical scratches. Read this how you may but the film
is probably as poor as the image quality of the SD rendering. On the
positive it is anamorphic in the, original, 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is
progressively transferred.

Audio has its share of crackles, but this
only adds to the Grindhouse effect. Some of the dialogue is
scattered but for the most part is audible. There are no subtitles
offered on the region FREE disc.

Supplements consist of a brief restoration demo (sans EE),
a trailer for the film and some Bayview Previews.

The 'star' William Smith doesn't appear till after 1/2 hour of
the film is passed. There isn't much to extol here, unless you are find
the Grindhouse unintentional effects appealing. I enjoyed it as the
epitome of 'bad', but I am a sucker for crap like this. Most won't be as
enamored as they are with the cover's misleading potential. Pass.